334 EARTH TRESPASSERS. 



Sometimes the locality which is selected is not agree- 

 able to the human inhabitants of the place. For 

 example, in several parts of Ceylon, they have chosen 

 to burrow in the public road, and have become absolute 

 nuisances. They could not be extirpated, and, in 

 consequence, a number of labourers were perpetually 

 employed in filling up all the holes which the Land 

 Crabs make. 



Sometimes they had a grewsome way of choosing 

 the cemeteries for their burrowing places. As the 

 flesh of the Land Crab is considered a delicacy, the 

 European residents are careful in ascertaining the 

 dwelling-place of the Crabs which are brought to their 

 tables. The negroes, however, are by no means fas- 

 tidious, saying, with some justice, "Land Crab eat 

 black man, black man eat he." For the Land Crabs 

 follow the general custom of Crustacea, and are car- 

 nivorous in their nature, eating anything in the way of 

 animal substances that they can get, so that a dead 

 negro affords a great feast for them. 



These crabs are so completely acclimatized to the 

 land, that even when they have to cast off" their shells 

 at the moulting season, they retire to their burrows 

 for that purpose, block up the entrance, and remain 

 there until the new shell has hardened. 



Perhaps there are a few of my readers who are not 

 acquainted with the curious Crustacea called Hermit 

 Crabs, or Soldier Crabs, which inhabit the shells of 

 dead molluscs, and walk about with perfect ease, 

 trailing their borrowed habitations behind them. They 

 are very common along our coasts, and mostly inhabit 



